A Special Jellicle Ball
by CharliiMarie
Summary: A behind-the-scenes story of the musical about why the jellicles decided to put on the show we know and love and how they managed it! This is my first fanfic so I'm a bit wary, any reviews would be greatly appreciated!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1- A change in tradition

"Gather round everyone, I have an announcement"

The Jellicle leader, though softly spoken, immediately grabbed the attention of every cat in the junkyard. The Rum Tum Tugger stopped outrageously flirting, Etcetera and the other kits stopped gawking at him, Jellyorum and Jennyanydots looked up from their sewing and even the notorius cat burglers, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer put down their half filled sacks and turned to face him. Old Deuteronomy recieved such a high level of respect.

Munkustrap, Old Deuteronomy's son and the Jellicle Protector, held onto his father's hand and supported him as he made his way to the great tyre. By the time the leader had sat down and made himself comfortable, the rest of the tribe had gathered around awaiting his news.

"Well then, you all seem to be here- except for Bustopher and Gus but I'll catch up with them later" he began "So I'll start from the beginning. Yesterday, I was sunning myself on the vicarage wall thinking about happiness which is one of my favourite pasttimes. I had come up with a new philosophy when I heard the strangest thing-"

"Ooh I bet it was a pollicle! They say the silliest things!" Electra whispered to Etcetera who giggled in response. She quickly stopped when she caught a stern glance from Alonzo.

"No it wasn't a dog" Old Deut said with a smile. Electra looked at her best friend is disbelief as if to say '_how did he hear?!' _whilst Etcy looked equally as bewildered. "I heard two humans talking."

"The first one said 'Well of all things, can it be really? Yes oh my! I do believe it is Old Deuteronomy!'. Naturally I lifted my head at this and looked straight into the eyes of my old owner. He was a charming old fellow but I only stayed with him for a year. I have a constant inclination to change scenery you see? I slowly made to go towards him in greeting but then I heard him say to his companion; 'He probably doesn't remember me, I'm not even sure how to address him anymore' and he walked on by. Well as you can imagine I stopped dead in my tracks, dumbfounded"

By this point, Pouncival and Tumblebrutus had got bored and started play fighting with each other. Admetus, who wasn't as rowdy, watched on in amusement.

"So!" Old Deuteronomy boomed in his deep baritone (causing Tumble and Pounce to collapse on each other)"I feel that the humans need educated on who we are, I bet some of them don't even know what a 'Jellicle' cat is!"

"Haha surely not!" laughed a few cats

"Oh I believe so" Deuteronomy continued "Thererfore I propose that we take it to the stage!"

A few gasps escaped the tribe members and they began talking excitedly to each other.

"Aswell as our traditional ball and mating dance, which I believe it is dear Victoria's turn to come-of-age-" Plato caught Victoria's eye at this, causing the snow white feline to blush "I wish to show them the most important part of our culture: the choice and ascension to the Heaviside layer and I think it would be nice to introduce some of our tribe members and finish off with a lesson on how we wish to be addressed by the humans."

"But Dad, the Jellicle ball is our most sacred ritual!" Munkustrap cried. "How can we reveal so much of something that is so central to who we are?!"

"Exactly, it's the perfect thing to show off. Its beautiful, its personal and its at the core of being a Jellicle. I believe its the best thing we have to educate the humans as to who we are" Deuteronomy retorted

"But-"

"Hey Straps, chill out! Its gonna be fun! Right girls?" Tugger shouted across whilst stroking underneath Electra's chin, which triggered a squeal from the kittens.

"I could show them my magic!" Quaxo said. Tugger rolled his eyes and smiled at his best friend.

"Oi Munky, if ya need to..em.._borrow_.. any props jus' give us a shout yeah?!" Jerrie yelled as Teazer nodded excitedly.

"Umm thanks I guess but y'know I'm still not comfortable with your...hobby you two" Munkustrap replied in a daze, but the calico duo had already run off to begin planning, almost knocking over Tantomile and Coriocopat; who were completely calm as having read Old Deuteronomy's mind and learned of his idea as soon as he entered the junkyard.

Munkustrap surveyed all the jellicles excitedly talking amongst themselves and some of them had begun to practise dancing already.

"Oh Dem" he said as he turned to his mate "what are we getting ourselves into?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2-

Munkustrap awoke the next morning and stalked out into the sunshine. He turned his face towards the sun and basked in the warmth. He had just let a small smile play across his face when his father's announcement flashed across his memory. _Oh dear, there's so much to do! _he thought as he rushed out into the clearing and began pacing.

"Right so first things first, we need to teach them who we are. Luckily we've been choreographing the Jellicle ball for months so that can be put on hold for a bit. Oh but there's so much that makes us Jellicles! How are we meant to teach them? If we just list it out then they'll get bored and won't pay attention. Oh this is a nightmare!"

As Munkustrap continued to blabber to himself, the graceful Victoria landed her jeté and danced her way across the clearing. Jemima met her from the other side and the two best friends danced together, relishing the early morning sunshine. Munkustrap watched the kittens dancing and was struck by an idea.

"Of course!" he exclaimed. Jemima and Victoria heard this and walked towards him.

"Of course what Munkustrap?" Jemima asked

"That's how we teach the humans, through song and dance! It's what we do best after all! Thank you so much you two!" Munk said as he ran back to his den. Victoria and Jemima, unsure of why they were thanked, shrugged their shoulders and carried on dancing.

By about midday, all the cats in the tribe had awoken except for Skimbleshanks who had a night shift on the train and was catching up on lost sleep. They were all still excited about this year's Jellicle ball.

"I wanna be the first one to go on stage!" Pouncival shouted

"No I do!" said Etcetera, tackling her brother to the floor.

They soon caught the attention of the other kittens who decided to seize the opportunity for a bit of rough and tumble. Electra and Etcetera employed their usual tactic of teaming up, one pinning down Pounce's legs and the other grabbing his arms.

"Hey Jemima, come help!"

Pouncival caught sight of Jemima approaching with a bucket of water and tried to wriggle free. Eventually he cried for help and his team-mate Tumblebrutus ran over. He grabbed Jemima around the waist, lifted her up and spun her around. This caused the water to spill everywhere and soaked everyone! Unfortunately, Jennyanydots and Jellyorum walked past at that moment.

"Honestly kittens, what a mess! Look at you; you're all going to catch your death of cold!" Jelly exclaimed

"Go get dried off sweethearts!" Jenny added.

The five kittens skipped away, Electra desperately trying to fix her head-fur and Etcetera and Pounce arguing over who had won the fight. Jemima and Tumble walked a bit slower behind, both of them blushing;

"Erm… I'm sorry for grabbing you Jem" Tumblebrutus eventually said, once he'd brought himself to actually look at her in the eye. He quickly found that he could not look away.

"It's fine…honestly" Jemima smiled up to him, her heart fluttering.

Jelly rolled her eyes at Jenny and followed the kits to make sure they dried off properly. Jenny tuned to Munkustrap's den and called inside.

"Munk, are you there?"

"Yes come on in!" he responded. As they entered, she found a flustered Munkustrap almost swimming in scraps of paper with choreography and diagrams scattered across them.

"Jelly and I figured you could use a hand getting this thing organized"

"That's very kind of you, but um… I just need to…Oh Bast where's it gone!" Munk began, searching around him

"That'd be great Jenny" Demeter answered. She reached a hand to Munk to help him to his feet and turned to him "you can't take this all on by yourself, and who better to help than the Gumbie cat herself!"

"You're right, of course" Munk resigned.

"What's the first thing on the agenda then?" Jenny asked

"Well I was inspired by the young Jemima and Victoria to describe who we are as Jellicles through song and dance but to be perfectly honest, I have no idea where to begin!"

"Well the Jellicles are a tribe, we act best when we act as a group so why don't we come up with something as a group? I suggest we get everyone out in the clearing and have everyone come up with what being a Jellicles means to them. That way it gives it a personal touch and everyone feels like they're playing their part."

"Sounds great, I'm certainly not getting anywhere here on my own" Munk sighed "I'll call a tribe meeting"

The silver tabby stretched after being sat on the floor all morning and left the den for the second time, he rounded up all the cats and stood on the tyre where his father usually stood and scanned the crowd in front of him, unsure where to begin. He cleared his throat.

"Well-"

Then he heard the scream.


	3. Chapter 3

"AAARRRRGGGHHH!" a screaming Mungojerrie burst into the clearing "I'M BLIIIIIIIIIINNDDD!"

Everyone turned to look and fits of laughter erupted from the crowd. Rumpleteazer stood up, took a bow and bounded over to a confused Jerrie, who had a sock on his head.

"'old on Jer, lemmie sort it" Teazer guffawed, trying to hold back her giggles as she pulled the sock off. The force of it caused them both to fall backwards.

"Wha- how di' tha' get there?" Jerrie blinked twice and realised that everyone was looking at him. Everyone but Teazer, who was suspiciously looking to the sky. Embarrassed, Mungojerrie caught her eye and spotted the guilty glint he knew so well.

"YOU!" he shouted, lunging for her

"Oi'm sorreh Jer, ya slept so peacefully oi couldn't resist!" she giggled as she dodged his lunge and ran.

Her tom-friend chased after her until Munkustrap put his hand to Jerrie's forehead to stop him. It was a trick that always worked, no matter how hard Jerrie swung his fists to break free, he just couldn't reach Munk. Eventually he resigned and sat down, scowling.

"Oi'll getcha back for this!" he shouted over to a giggling Rumpleteazer who was surrounded by the younger queen kits all laughing along with her. She just winked at him in response, which coaxed a smile out of the tom.

"Well now we've had that bit of excitement, can we can started?" Munkustrap asked. Almost immediately, the noise died down "I called you all here to help with our special Jellicle ball. We need to explain to the humans what makes us Jellicles and we're going to put everyone's ideas into a song"

"We just are?" a confused Victoria said, articulating what most of them were thinking.

"What Munk means dear, is little things that make us special" Jenny said

"Like having a tail?" Etcetera said

"Nooo pollicles have tails too!"

Ideas were batted backwards and forwards, as the cats talked amongst themselves. Occasionally some ideas were shouted out,

"Well I know I'm _especially_ good looking" Tugger drawled with a wink at Bombularina

But most were quickly dismissed. This was proving to be more difficult than they thought. They all knew they were Jellicles, but it was more like an inexplicable feeling deep within them. It was much more difficult to put into words.

All this commotion woke up Skimbleshanks, who made his way into the clearing. On the way, he was intercepted by an excited Rumpleteazer

"Aw Skimble, yah missed it! Tha greatest prank eva!"

"Not funneh!" Jerrie yelled, whilst Teazer walked over to tease him some more.

"It was actually pretty hilarious. Rumpleteazer pulled a sock over Mungojerrie's eyes whilst he was sleeping and he woke up convinced that he was blind!" Jenny explained.

"Och, I bet he looked like a newborn kit again!" Skimble laughed, drawing Munkustrap's attention.

"Wait-what was that?"

"Well all kits cannae see when they're born!"

"Yes!"

Munkustrap returned to his place atop the tyre and sung in his warm baritone,

"_Are you blind when you're born?"._

Immediately, everyone turned to listen. They sat in blissful expectation, was this it? Had Munkustrap written the song for them and saved the day? Ears pricked, everyone gradually leaned in closer. What's the next line? Why had he stopped?

Munkustrap paused. It had certainly caught everyone's attention and would make a good opening line, but he had nothing to follow it with. He'd kind of hoped that it would just come to him if he just sang. He waited. Surely inspiration would strike at any moment? His ears drooped. He had nothing. He was just about to turn away from the crowd when another voice sang out.

"_Can you see in the dark?"_


End file.
